Roti John (White Man’s Bread)

Roti John is a Singaporean invention of onions, eggs, grilled meat, and spices spread on a loaf of French bread and grilled. Supposedly it was invented in the 1970s by a hawker named Shukor, whose Western customers always asked for an onion omelette that they ate with bread. Shukor decided to combine the two; grilled meat and spices were added to suit the local clientele. The name comes from roti, the Malay word for bread, and John, a colloquial term for Caucasians in those days. Thus, Roti John basically translates into “White Man’s bread.”

The daughter of Shukor still runs a stall at Serangoon Gardens. I made three separate trips there to try the “original” Roti John, only to fail. (The first time they were out of bread; the next two they were closed.) I finally gave up and ate it at Golden Mile. In hindsight, I should’ve opened up the sandwich to take this picture. Also, I feel like the sauce looks like fake blood. And overall, I was unimpressed with the roti john – it was pretty bland. That might have been because I accidentally ordered it from the stall NEXT to the one recommended by Makansutra. I’m not sure how I missed this sign:

It took me awhile to figure out the names – why name some of your sandwiches after people, and others after bad songs or random words? I decided it appears to be based on alliteration. (Brad Pitt = Black Pepper; Macarena = Mushroom; etc.) However, this does not explain the Kebab J. Lo (with Cheese). The only thing I can figure out is that the hawker assumes that eating cheese goes straight to your butt? Any other suggestions?